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Kinmen, Matsu travel limits to stay

While it is official policy to expand the "small three links," the government is unlikely to allow all Chinese visitors to Kinmen and Matsu, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday.

The expansion of the "small three links" should be designed to boost tourism in Kinmen and Matsu, Chen told reporters after yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said the council had recently proposed several measures to relax cross-strait economic policy, but many of theses were still in the planning stage.

He said he didn't know when the measures would go into effect because there were certain procedures that had to be completed first.

His comments came in response to a report published in yesterday's Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper).

The report said that the administration is planning to expand the "small three links" to the "medium three links" to allow more Taiwanese tourists to visit China and vice versa.

Under the plan, all Taiwanese heading to China would have to travel via Kinmen or Matsu and stay there overnight, the report said, and Chinese nationals visiting Taiwan would have to do the same.

The report quoted Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) as saying that it was possible to change the administrative status of Kinmen and Matsu to a "special administrative zone," given the special requirement of departures to China.

Only Taiwanese businesspeople based in Fujian Province were allowed to use the "small three links" route to return to Taiwan when the policy was first implemented, Chen Ming-tong said.

But in 2004 the government expanded the policy to cover all Taiwanese businesspeople who were registered as being based in China, he said, as well as veterans, religious pilgrims and academic groups, he said.

It is unlikely that all Chinese visitors visiting Taiwan would travel via the "small three links" because Kinmen airport could not handle that number of travelers, Chen Ming-tong said.

While more than 4 million Taiwanese visited China last year, the Kinmen airport can only process an estimated 10,000 visitors a day, the MAC chief said.

As the charter flight services are expected to become more frequent and eventually lead to direct flights, he said it might be a waste of resources to invest in Kinmen airport because Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is likely to become the main port of entry.

"To ensure Kinmen residents benefit from the expansion of transportation links is key," he said, adding that since the "small three links" went into effect, more than 700 Chinese tourists and businesspeople traveled to or via Kinmen every day.

Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said he had no information regarding any change in the administrative status of Kinmen and Matsu, nor was the issue discussed during yesterday's Cabinet meeting.
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